


That Boy

by silailo



Category: Anastasia (1997)
Genre: Chocolate Box Exchange 2018, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 13:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13591179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silailo/pseuds/silailo
Summary: Anya finally remembers who opened the door for her.





	That Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [disgruntled_owl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/disgruntled_owl/gifts).



It had been three days since they’d left, since Rasputin’s corpse had turned to ashes, since Dimitri and Anya had shared their first kiss. Just three days. But in those three days Dimitri couldn’t remember a time when he’d been happier. He had no destination and almost no money, but he had his princess and a bright future within his grasp. There were no more obstacles. Nothing could stop them now.

Well, except maybe this guy.

Dimitri backed against the brick wall in the alley and gave the large man in front of him a disarming smile, but the giant’s huge hand shot out and took hold of Dimitri’s shirt.

“That was three years ago!” Dimitri said, “and how was I supposed to know the money was counterfeit?”

The big man shook him. “You said it was legitimate!” He was built like a rhino, and while Dimitri had only ever heard of rhinos, he was sure this is what a rhino would probably look like.

“Sizov told me it was legit—”

“Liar!”

Dimitri’s mind raced. He had always somehow managed to get out of scrapes like this, but he came up empty. Unless he could pry off Yanovich’s iron-like fingers, there was no way out of this one. He thanked whatever deity might exist that Anya had stepped away ten minutes ago to find a lavatory.

Yanovich barked out a laugh. The stench of his breath wafted over Dimitri as he leaned in. “You didn’t expect to find me in France, did you? You didn’t think _I’d_ come looking for you, eh?”

“Well, no,” Dimitri admitted. If he was going to lose his head today, he might as well get in a last, stinging word. “I thought maybe you were as stupid as you looked.”

A voice interrupted them. “I don’t know, he looks pretty smart to me.”

Anya stood at the entrance to the alley, her arms crossed and not looking the least bit surprised at Dimitri’s predicament. At her feet, Pooka growled. “Maybe you and I should start a club, mister? You’re not the first one he’s fooled.”

“You have business with him?” Yanovich said. He waved her away. “Get in line!”

“Oh, I have business with him all right,” said Anya. She lifted her chin at glared back at him with a royal pride that could’ve melted stone. “He owes me breakfast, so I would like you to give him back.”

“Anya!” said Dimitri, reaching out to her. “Don’t just—"

Yanovich released a hand from Dimitri to point at Anya. “Listen, girl, this is a _private_ matter.” His lips curled back to show crooked rows of yellow teeth. “Unless you want me to damage that pretty face of yours, then you—" He doubled over when Dimitri landed a knee in his groin, thus releasing his prisoner.

Dimitri slipped away, grabbed Anya’s hand, and they sped down the street.

“He’s still behind us,” Anya told him, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that he was almost pummeled to death. Pooka trailed behind her.

“Thanks for your help,” Dimitri replied dryly. “Real useful!”

“It was all part of the plan.”

“ _What_ plan?”

“I was distracting him to give you time. And you’re welcome!”

They bounded around a corner and down a steep, narrow street. Yanovich yelled behind them, but Dimitri calculated that they would lose him soon. He gave credit to his somewhat smaller, more slender build that gave him greater agility and speed than most of the people he’d had to escape (oh, and Anya was pretty quick, too). As a kid, other children had called him Rat Boy for his uncanny ability to squeeze into tight spaces and elude his pursuers.

A building to his left caught Dimitri’s eye. A door sat recessed just below street level and likely led into the lower level of the building. He turned course.

“You must’ve _really_ done something to make him mad,” said Anya. “He’s not giving up.”

A set of steps descended toward the door, but the door was locked. With a couple of kicks, the lock broke, the door swung open. “Get in!” he said.

“What—”

“Just get in!”

“But we don’t—”

He pushed her in, kicked Pooka after her, and followed. With the lock broken he had to hold the door shut. If Yanovich had seen them go inside, it would be impossible to keep the stronger man out. A few minutes passed, and still Yanovich hadn’t found them.

“I don’t think he saw us,” Dimitri said.

Anya said nothing.

A little light filtered in through the cracks around the door. Dimitri listened for the heavy steps of Yanovich. Pooka whimpered.

“I’m sorry,” Dimitri whispered. “I didn’t think something like this would happen.” All his dealings had been in Russia, and so he had thought it would all stay in Russia. What rotten luck that it would follow him here, and at a time like this.

His lover maintained her silence. Was she upset with him? He looked over his shoulder at her. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

The room was too dark to see, so he didn’t know what sort of place they were in. To his astonishment—and pleasure—she wrapped her arms around him from behind. His heart hammered with excitement.

“It’ll be all right,” he said to assure her.

“It was you,” she said.

“What?”

“I… I remember.”

In the short time since they’d left Paris, Anya’s memories returned more and more each day. It seemed the Dowager Empress had been the key to unlocking most of them, allowing them to trickle like a stream at first. Now, the dam opened its gates. Anya was always remembering something, stopping in mid-step when she did, pausing to recall, which made his heart soar with the radiant smiles that spread over her beautiful face.

A person walked by on the street above, and Dimitri turned his attention to the door. Anya tightened her hold on him.

“You never told me,” she said.

“Anya, right now—”

“Why? What were you waiting for?”

“I’m making sure that jerk is gone.”

“That’s not what I mean!”

She grabbed his shoulders and turned him with a force that startled him. She was always stronger than expected. “You didn’t tell me! You didn’t tell me _you_ were the boy who opened the wall!”

Dimitri flinched. “Keep your voice down, would you? I thought you already knew.”

“Well, I didn’t! You… You were that boy in the kitchen, too, the one they were always yelling at: ‘Dimitri, get back in here. Dimitri, don’t break that. Dimitri, that’s not food, don’t eat it!’”

Heat crept into Dimitri’s face. That was not a memory he wanted her to remember.

“Listen, I think Yanovich is gone,” he said. “We should go before someone finds us here.”

She drew close to him again and placed her hands on his cheeks, and for a moment he forgot the threat that lingered outside. But she pinched his cheeks and said, “ _You should’ve told me_! Now, kiss me!”

He didn’t have time to respond as she pressed her lips against his.


End file.
